Methyl anthranilate (MA), a compound in maize roots that is repellent to western corn rootworm larvae (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) was tested in behavioral bioassays in a soil environment. MA prevented larvae from locating roots of a maize seedling, and the repellency strengthened with increasing rates of MA. In a simple push-pull strategy between an MA-treated seedling and an untreated seedling, granules containing 0.1 mg/g MA pushed larvae to the untreated seedling. This push effect increased with dose, with 90% repellency observed for the highest dose tested (100 mg/g)...

The house fly, Musca domestica L., is a globally distributed nuisance and disease-carrying urban and livestock pest. Control mostly relies on synthetic insecticides but resistance to them has become problematic. p-Anisaldehyde, a compound found in many edible plants, was assessed for its effects on different life stages of M. domestica. Whereas p-anisaldehyde, applied as an adult contact spray, caused >80% mortality by 30 min at a 30% concentration, egg mortality on treated substrate was complete at 0.1%, and the LC90 was 0...

Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Lipaphis erysimi (Kaltenbach) are important pests of Brassica leafy vegetables, especially in Japan, the United States, and India. In Japan, because most of the nonheading Brassica vegetables are considered minor crops, the number of commercially available pesticides against these aphids is limited. Here, we evaluated the effect of releasing adults of a flightless strain of the multicolored Asian ladybird, Harmonia axyridis Pallas, on these aphid species on a nonheading Brassica cultivar in open fields...

Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is a pest of small fruits and grapes in the United States and in its home range of Japan. Physiological and morphological laboratory testing was performed on six commonly grown wine grape varieties in Virginia. Skin thickness, penetration force, and ºBrix were analyzed to determine ovipositional preferences. Experiments were performed for three consecutive years from grapes collected at one Virginia vineyard. More eggs were laid in intact Viognier grapes than any other variety...

Bee-collected pollen is an essential protein source for honey bee and bumblebee colonies. Its quality directly affects bee health. We estimated the quality of pollen samples using bumblebee microcolonies and high-throughput sequencing for the presence of microorganisms. The tested samples of bee-collected pollen were of different quality, as estimated from their effect on the development of bumblebee microcolonies. Based on the pollen quality, we selected a subset of high-quality and low-quality pollen samples to further analyze them for the presence of microorganisms and pathogens...

The resistance evolution of Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) to insecticides and Bt proteins along with the intensive crop production systems adopted in Brazil make it challenging to implement integrated pest management. The adoption of alternative methods to manage pests is fundamental to the implementation of favorable integrated pest management and insect resistance management. Spodoptera frugiperdamultiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SfMNPV) is a valuable tool for S. frugiperda control. The characterization of the baseline susceptibility of S...

Mythimna unipuncta (Haworth) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an important insect pest of corn (Zea mays L.) in North America and can cause severe damage during outbreaks. Insecticides are the main control method; however, development of insecticide resistance poses management challenges and necessitates the use of novel insecticides. A synthetic insecticide, chlorantraniliprole, belonging to the anthranilic diamides, targets insect ryanodine receptors and is a potential alternative to conventional insecticides for management of M...

Biological invasions have reached large parts of the globe, due to human actions across the planet. Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) is a globally invasive species, always associated with enormous and costly damage to agricultural crops. Native to Southeast Asia, D. suzukii recently (i.e., 2013) invaded and is dispersing through South America. Here, we used a phylogeographic approach based on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene fragment to explore the invasion dynamics of D. suzukii populations in Brazil...

The mealybug of Dysmicoccus lepelleyi Betrem (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) attacks a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants and is categorized as a quarantine pest in China. Utilization of phytosanitary irradiation (PI) as a potential treatment to disinfest agricultural commodities in trade (which has expanded rapidly in the recent years) and preventing the hatch of F1 generation eggs is used as a criterion for the PI treatment of mealybugs. A RS-2000 Pro X-ray irradiator (Rad Source Technologies, Inc...

In recent times, research has focused on integrated pest management approaches using nonchemical alternatives such as mating disruption for the control of stored product insect pests. In this study, we examined the effect of imposed delayed mating on the longevity and reproductive performance of the cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.), a serious insect pest of value added grain-based products, tobacco products, and spices. Delayed mating, progressing 0-14 d, was imposed on both sexes simultaneously, on males only, and on females only...

The whitefly Aleyrodes proletella L. (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) has become a major agricultural pest on a broad range of Brassica crops in Europe and has spread to North and South America and Australia. In order to understand its present outbreak, information about its life history parameters in relationship to different host plants is needed. Therefore, we tested the reproduction potential of A. proletella on four different host plants under greenhouse conditions: Kohlrabi, kale, white cabbage, and winter oilseed rape...

Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 (Gennadius), the sweetpotato whitefly, transmits Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), which causes significant yield losses annually in Florida and other tomato-producing regions. Field trials were carried out at the University of Florida's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center to evaluate integration of plastic mulch type, at-plant insecticide, and tomato variety for management of the sweetpotato whitefly and TYLCV. The tomato varieties Charger, Rally, and Tygress had significantly lower season-long densities of whitefly eggs and nymphs than Florida-47 in one or more trials...

The use of foliar insecticide sprays at low temperatures may result in decreased efficacy in grain sorghum, Sorghum bicolor L. Moench, for control of sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner). Sulfoxaflor and flupyradifurone were evaluated to determine the impact of temperature on their efficacy against sugarcane aphid in grain sorghum. Sorghum was treated at the soft dough growth stage with sulfoxaflor and flupyradifurone, as well as an untreated check. Leaf discs were pulled at various intervals from 0 to 10 d after treatment, placed in water agar plates, infested with aphids, placed in growth chambers at 15...

Sesamia nonagrioides (Lefèbvre) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a widespread insect pest in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. However, its pest status varies across its distribution range. It is a major pest of maize in Europe and of sugarcane in Iran. In Africa, it is a major pest of maize in West Africa but not considered as a pest in East Africa. Recent surveys conducted in 2015 recorded S. nonagrioides to be a major pest of sugarcane in Ethiopia and reported the species for the first time in Botswana, outside its known geographic range...

The bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.), is an insect pest that persistently attacks wheat crops worldwide. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are important detoxification enzymes that play roles in insecticide resistance. In this study, we identified two GST genes (RpGSTS1 and RpGSTS2) from R. padi. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the genes are associated with the sigma class of insect GSTs. The RpGSTS1 and RpGSTS2 contain nine α-helices and five β-sheets connected by loops, and had 60 and 50% homology with the 3D structure of the Blattella germanica GST5...

Pyridalyl is an insecticide that shows significant efficacy against Plutella xylostella, a notorious pest insect worldwide. In this study, we monitored resistance of P. xylostella to pyridalyl in China from 2016 to 2017, determined cross-resistance, inheritance, and synergism of pyridalyl resistance in two pyridalyl-resistant populations, one field-evolved resistant population (ZL-PR) and one laboratory-selected resistant population (XY-PR). We found that variation in susceptibility among 15 field populations in China from 2016 to 2017 was high, with mean LC50 values ranging from 1...